[time-nuts] Self winding clock co. Weatern union clock

[Ralph Smith]

Ken, at Ken's Clock clinic <http://www.kensclockclinic.com/> has a good deal of information about Self-Winding Clock Company clocks, as does our own Brooke Clarke <http://www.prc68.com/I/SWCC.shtml>.

I have two of these beasts, powered by a replica #6 battery from Ken's Clock Clinic, that contains two D cells and has a boost circuit to maintain three volts. One of my clocks is still going on a set of batteries after 18 months.

Synchronization requires a current of about 300 mA or so, for about a second.  The synchronization coils pull the minute, and second hand if present, hand to straight up. There is a mechanical latch that will only allow this within a few minutes of the top of the hour. For synchronization, I use a circuit to switch the 3V from the batteries across the synchronization coils, using a reverse-biased diode to protect from a voltage spike when switching off the pulse.  I use the GPIO pins from a Soekris Net4501 I use as an NTP server, using a Thunderbolt as a reference clock. I wrote a simple program that asserts a GPIO pin for one second, releasing at the top of the hour.

Ralph

On Jan 30, 2010, at 4:26 PM, Corby Dawson wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I picked up a nice big clock that has "self winding clock co. New York"
> and "western union" on the face.
> 
> After some research on the web I connected a 3V battery up and it wound
> itself OK.
> 
> Fiddled with the orientation a bit to get the pendulum swing balanced and
> it seems to be running OK now.
> 
> How to I advance or retard the hands to set the time?
> 
> Also how do I test the synchronizer? 
> 
> I see two Fahnestock clips That look to connect to the synchronizer
> solenoid.
> 
> With an appropriate interface can I synchronize it to a GPS 1PPH?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Corby Dawson
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